I recently bought a 50 pound bag of wheat berries to eat just to try it out. Stored it in two 5 gallon buckets. Not sure how long it'll take me to get through it, but I'm wondering at what point it is worth using oxygen absorbers?

Not sure if this exactly fits the subreddit, but I figured people here would know.

It recently occurred to me that a small rice cooker could be a valuable survival aide, if paired with a battery pack and solar panels. Specifically, rice is a high calorie food, and one can cook meat over the rice in the rice cooker (using a steamer tray). The rice cooker is quite energy efficient, only about 200 watts for 20-30 min of cooking time, so a solar panel could provide enough energy to a battery pack to run it at any time (collect the solar energy during the day, then run it from the battery at night). They are light and durable and easy to clean and are efficient with water use (since most of the water is contained and not lost as steam). Lastly, it does not require making a fire (which is something to avoid since the smoke from a fire would alert other people of your location and compromise your safety). Have you considered this? Am I missing anything?

Not a book but a movie. I saw yesterday the last House because i saw some reference in this sub. This is a rant.

Sorry, but what?

I live in the grand North and we also have an aerogarden in the kitchen for herbs for cooking. It takes forever to have anything and we have the little bottles of nutrients and everything.

Predators are not edible. Don't eat foxes, don't eat gulls, don't bring a skunk into the house. If your diet is based on rabbits and squirrels you end up with rabbit starvation (protein poisoning).

I was told all my life you need as a minimum an hectare to be autosuffisant, but this family makes it in the living room without direct sun?

Sorry - end of rant

Wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a specific brand of pressure canner that can be used on an open flame. Not just a propane stove but an actual outdoor fire. Anyone have any experience? Thanks in advance!

Anyone have any experience or know where I can find a mechanical, battery-free piezo ignition propane refrigerator?

I'm looking for one that starts and continue cooling on propane with no batteries, electrical connection, or powered electronic control board. I've seen some SMAD and SMETA fridges that say they offer models that are manual piezo ignition but when I look at the specs it says those versions are the battery version.

Those small RV style push button start ones would be perfect for prepping in a grid down situation and I can't seem to find one without it having a battery ignition. My reason for this is EMP or solar storm related. I want redundancy. I already have a solar system hooked up to the house and gas generator for my fridges. I want a backup to that.

Any suggestions?

I rent a ground floor apartment. I have a semi insulated garage where i have shelves and keep my bikes (don't have a car), no basement, no attic and no extra closets or rooms (i have a freestanding wardrobe in my bedroom for my clothes, a freestanding cabinet in my kitchen for my cutlery and plates and such and a freestanding cabinet in my living room for miscellaneous).

Building is very insulated, but has no sun protection so during heatwaves my living room and kitchen has temperatures up to 34 degrees celsius and it takes weeks for the temp to drop. ( Last heatwave was over a month ago and my current living room temp without heating is still at 22 degrees celsius). My garage also fluctuates in temperature, the narrow hallway stays the most steady, during a heatwave it's about eight degrees cooler than my living room.

I don't seem to have appropriate places to safely store extra food and such because all of the places have these fluctuating temps that will negatively influence the quality I think.

Context: Impact of Tropical Storm Rachel

We were in the path of Tropical Storm Rachel and had been actively monitoring the storm path as well as actively tracking the warnings via the El Niño Storm Observatory.

The storm was slated to impact Las Vegas, NV and I was aware and prepared with batteries, flashlights, water, food, blankets, NOAA weather radio, all devices were charged, all pets were stocked up on food and treats, sink was cleared and dishwasher loaded, picked up a bag of coffee, had at least 1/2 a tank of gas, picked up extra set of headlamps, withdrew some extra cash, picked up some extra board games and books, etc,

What I did not account for: our balcony flooding and the water level getting so high that the water ended coming into the house underneath the balcony door.

About a 3 x 3 section of carpet was drenched. A couple books from the 3 stacks of books I had on the floor alongside the wall suffered water damage.

Wife says it’s not my fault, we couldn’t have predicted that our balcony would flood and drain into the house underneath the door. BUT, as someone who regularly puts towels down at both doors when there is a sudden drop in temperature, I should have thought about securing those area in the case of torrential downpour.

I’m not even upset about the books and drawing pads that I had to toss or that were damaged, I’m just frustrated that I did not factor the possibility/likelihood of water seeping into the living room.

For context, we live in a second floor, corner apartment with a small, covered balcony, however instead of metal bar fencing throughout like the other units, ours is a concrete with plaster wall with wrought iron fencing on top.

Post-Storm Action: Purchased “PIG Water Sock” for future water events.

I usually include the name of what it is, serving size plus calories, protein, and carb content per serving. And I also include VERY basic cooking instructions. And then obviously the date it was sealed.

My husband contributes a lot, but cooking is not his forte unless he’s grilling meat or boiling pasta. So I have made sure to add basic cooking instructions for things like rice, beans, oats, lentils, and whatever else we store in Mylar bags so he would know what to do with them if I weren’t there to help. I also include the macros per serving so he knows what it’s worth, especially if he were to trade any of it for other stuff. For example: “Great Northern Beans, 9-1/4 cup servings: 110 cal, 1g fat, 31 carbs, 10g protein; soak overnight, then slow cook 45 min; 10/12/26”

Just wondering how much info you put on labels.

Hey everyone, I've been trying to learn more about storing my preps rather than just storing them and hoping for the best..... So I'm here now trying to learn more about it.

So I've been stocking the basic things although I'm not sure how well it can just go well in the long run. Looking for ways to storage, like which containers actually hold up long term, what I can seal them with, whether I'm storing them in the right conditions, and of course, how to know when things actually go bad for food..... Need help here.

Any idea you guys can share will be great! Thank you in advance!

Had a bike crash on Friday and ended up in hospital with a fracture. Some things I'd wish I'd done:

No list of medicine I'm on. That's something I should have had handy. Probably need to get a medic alert bracelet too.

No hospital bag. I didn't think I'd need one but hindsight says I should have had a sweater and change of clothes packed ready to go. In the end it was my feet that were cold - I was wearing cycling shoes so I left those behind. I'm going to pack wool socks, t-shirt and probably a skirt. I can't bend so lowering my pants/shorts is really hard. At least a skirt gives some coverage and I can flip it up to urinate. It's also unisex so the wife and I can consolidate.

No wallet - really dumb but it had fallen under a chair and I was in a rush to get cycling. Shouldn't have left without it.

What worked -

Sugar jellies, kept me okay while at the hospital. Really like having a package with me at all times. These are running fuel gels so easy to carry and I know exactly what nutrition/carbs are.

Warm and soft clothes like fuzzy leggings or cross-country ski tights. Easy to wear and put on over an injured leg.

Mobility devices like a crutches, cane or shower chair. Will come in handy as I start walking around again. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to grab our spare set of crutches from the basement but that's covered by insurance.

House is built around one floor. Laundry, shower, bedroom and everything can be done on the main floor. While I'm on crutches it's great not having to deal with stairs.

New to prepping… live in the southwest with small kids … what you suggest I get? Say I have $500

Does anyone make anything resembling an MRE or field meal, camping/hiking meal and put it in a Pringles can and what is your contents list? Thank You.

So we bought a rather large case(24lbs) of tallow for one of our main fat sources. The case is basically a box with a plastic bag full of tallow. What is the best way to store for the long term? I was thinking of re-rendering it to make sure all the water content was 100% out and then pouring it into my souper cube molds, freezing, then vacuum sealing the bricks and then freezing them long term. But that seems like a lot of work and I was wondering if there’s another way. That would also take up a lot of freezer space. One of the reasons we chose it (other than the fact we like it) is that it has the potential for long term storage… like pemmican. How does the tallow in pemmican last so long?

Just like the title states, do you keep your old glass jars? I started to keep jars from jam, pasta sauce, etc but it feels a bit like hoarding at some point. We've used a handful for random purposes (laundry detergent, nuts, etc) I'm curious if these can be used for properly canning things or if you need a real mason jar lid to create a proper seal. If you do keep these, what do you use them for?

I'm looking at this major rainstorm aimed at southern Utah and wondering what you all would do if you had a house in the St. George area? What if you lived in a community on the hills around? How would you prepare for possible flooding in the next couple of days?

How useful would a short barreled shotgun or rifle be for prepping? Would suppressors be useful in prepping if you were hunting in a SHTF situation and wanted to keep the noise down?

I heard that these can bought now without a wait time as the ATF changed the rules on form 4s.

In the event that debit/credit/POS/internet goes down, having some cash on hand can be a life saver. Many businesses aren’t even equipped to handle purely offline cash only sales, unfortunately, but some are. The amount will of course depend on individual needs and circumstances, but for me I’ve arrived at a flat $400. It is not so much money that I’m afraid of losing it or being robbed, but enough for a full tank of gas, emergency provisions, and any small service/favor I might need.

- What is your current EDC cash amount, and what do you think is ideal?

- How do you carry cash? All in the wallet, or some concealed?

- What is the ideal denomination split?

- Lastly, other than emergencies, what are other reasons to carry cash? For me, I can’t pass by a garage sale. I gotta stop every time. I also very much prefer to tip in cash, even though I pay with card.

https://imgur.com/ryOayVC

https://imgur.com/2AXLkNQ

Have had these for about 4 yrs, didnt realize they got rusted

For some of the less rusted cans, not shown, i did empty the contents into a jar and then i rinsed the can thoroughly so i could take a look, the outer side is rusted but the inside looks fine, no breaks or anything

So does that mean the rust did not penetrate the protective layer and the contents are safe?

I saw this at Ollie’s today, and since I was just considering purchasing one (talking my husband into purchasing one) it seemed serendipitous.

Any opinions on this brand or on buying refurbished?

Refurbished
$699
9400 Watts

MODEL# T07573F
• TRI-FUEL GENERATOR RUNS ON GASOLINE, NATURAL GAS, OR PROPANE
--FIRMAN 107573
• CAN BE USED AS A WHOLE HOME STANDBY
GENERATOR
• 9400 STARTING WATTS/7500 RUNNING WATTS

Have been looking at multiple online sites for a specific size 3 shelf unit to store all my filled jars under a laundry counter. Max height 25 inches. I have about 150 jars so need much weight.

Uline, Global, Webrestaurant, etc. WHERE CAN I FIND this elusive unit?? haha

I’m working on a home power outage plan using a battery for the fridge, router, a couple of LED lights, and phone charging. No heating or AC.

Before sizing the battery, I’m planning to measure the fridge’s actual kWh use over 24–48 hours with a plug-in meter. The nameplate wattage doesn’t tell me how often the compressor runs.

For anyone who’s tested a similar setup, how close was your measured consumption to the runtime you actually got? How much extra capacity did you allow for inverter losses and hot weather?

Also, did your fridge’s startup surge ever trip the inverter even though its running watts were comfortably under the rating?

So I’m looking to add a radio to my kit. I’m thinking of the Baofeng 5 mini. Maybe two in the event my group and I have to separate at any time. I dont have a HAM radio license but I do plan on getting it. If shtf I’m using it regardless.

What Baofeng would you recommend for good distance and mobility? I’m asking because there are a few good prices on Prime Deals.

I'm not naive about it. Say a meteorite makes most infrastructure and thus food obsolete for a year. Very quickly people will begin to scavenge, and I suspect there will be a big wave of chaos until it calms down after there are survivors.